4 Free Tools to Record Remote Interviews for Your Podcast

Recording a podcast during remote interviews can be challenging. However, it should not hinder you from delivering quality content and fresh new insights. So the million dollar question is “how can you deal with these types of episodes when there’s a very good chance that your interviewee is not only busy but may not even live in the same time zone as you?” Read more to find out!

What’s a remote interview?

Remember back when you applied for a job and someone from the company called you up and asked you a few questions over the phone? That’s an example of a remote interview.

The primary challenge when doing remote interviews is the internet connection. Even if you have great reception but the person you’re interviewing doesn’t, it’s going to affect the sound quality, which, in turn, will also affect the quality of your episode. That said, you need to make sure that the software you use will be able to record the interview without compromising the sound quality.

Fortunately, there are remote interview recording tools that are free and can produce good sound quality. Here are three of them.

Skype

Skype is, by far, the most popular tool used by podcasters when they do remote interviews. It’s one of the oldest VoIP applications around, so it’s nearly impossible that the person you’re interviewing doesn’t know how to use it.

The only downside to using Skype is that you need to download and install a third-party app in Skype that would record your interview. Skype Call Recorder (for PC) and Audio Hijack 3 (for Mac) are free third-party tools that you can download and use to record remote interviews on Skype.

Google Hangouts on Air

Another free tool that’s gaining popularity among podcasters today is Google Hangouts on Air. Aside from the fact that it’s free, it offers a lot of promising benefits particularly among those who are just getting started in podcasting.

The thing with using Google Hangouts for remote interviews is that you can only record this when you live-stream your interview, which really isn’t a bad thing because you’re giving people a “sneak peek” into your upcoming podcast. Take advantage of the tool by plugging your podcast channel so they can listen to the episode again and maybe share it with others as well.

Also, the recorded interview in Google Hangouts is in video format. Again, this isn’t too much of a bad thing since you can always use the video to repurpose your podcast content in the future. You can use Pazera’s Free Audio Extractor to grab the audio from the recorded video so that you can edit it and use it for your upcoming podcast episode.

Zencastr

Zencastr is a free web-based podcast recording tool that allows you to interview up to two guests at a time.

What’s great about using Zencastr is that it records the audio tracks separately. In other words, you get an audio track with just you speaking and a separate audio track of your guests speaking. Having different audio tracks makes it easier for you to edit episodes so that it will sound more professional.

Zencastr also has paid premium plans that offer additional perks like live soundboard editing and automatic post-production features that you can test out for 14 days when you sign up for a free account. If you’re new to podcasting and don’t have access to all those fancy editing and post-production software programs yet, this can be a cost-effective option you can look into.

Interviewing an esteemed guest can be highly beneficial for podcasters. Not only will it help establish your authority, it can also help significantly extend your audience reach.

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Do you use any of these software tools when you do remote interviews for your podcast episodes? What other tools do you use that are great for podcast interviews? Share them in the comments section below.